What is Digg?33 Comments
- HappyScrappy, on 12/29/2008, -0/+13Or I can just use Wi-Fi instead. Since most people charge their electric cars in their garage where they could easily set up coverage.
This is a nonsense idea for the home in my book. It might be more useful if somehow you can check on your car charging in the parking lot of the mall while you are inside. Of course, that would require plugging into the wall in the mall, which most people don't do.
Come to think of it, this is a pretty dumb idea all around. - chedabob, on 12/29/2008, -1/+8@dremspider
I have a pair of them and haven't had a single problem in the 2 years I've had them.
Apart from cheap speakers, what do they interfere with? - digigeek, on 12/29/2008, -0/+5"The electric car networking prototype allows people and devices inside the home to check on an electric vehicle while it is being recharged."
To what end? What is the point? I just don't see it. Am I missing something? - newman8r, on 12/29/2008, -0/+5wow this sounds really cool....not
wires are old school - YodaJones, on 12/28/2008, -5/+10***** powerline networks. What crap technology that just won't go away.
- HappyScrappy, on 12/29/2008, -0/+4How much simpler? With Wi-Fi, you don't even need to plug it in to check the status.
- cawpin, on 12/29/2008, -1/+5/tinfoil hat
- dremspider, on 12/29/2008, -2/+6Interference for one. It tends to spray lots of Interference and interfere with all sorts of items in the home. Things plugged in often go wonky as well as things outside. Numerous products have come out before and many have been pulled off the shelves due to unforeseen consequences.
- cawpin, on 12/29/2008, -0/+3That's exactly what I'm thinking. This is a product who's time has passed. Why should I only be able to check it when the car is charging? Wifi is a much simpler solution.
- chedabob, on 12/29/2008, -0/+3Not really. My garage isn't attached to my house, so a wi-fi signal would have to travel through two pretty thick walls.
Besides, how much simpler can you get than plugging it in? - ricksite, on 12/29/2008, -0/+3They lost me at "HD". I am down with HDTV but aside from that, it is lame to put "HD" in front of everything.
- mcnees287, on 12/29/2008, -1/+3Whats wrong with it? sounds like a good idea to me
- Jektal, on 12/29/2008, -0/+2First I've heard about powerline networks or the interference problem, but couldn't interference be solved by just shielding the power cables? We're not talking about (intentional) wireless communication, right?
Although I suppose the point of this tech is not having to run new data-only cable, so running new shielded power cables might be just as much trouble... - MWeather, on 12/29/2008, -0/+2"Not really. My garage isn't attached to my house, so a wi-fi signal would have to travel through two pretty thick walls."
Unless it's brick, and there is absolutely no way of putting the antenna outside (like you rent and can't drill a hole, you should be fine. Unless, of course your garage is over 200 feet from your house, in which case you can just send the butler out to check on the car. - Shedding, on 12/29/2008, -2/+4"Allows people and devices inside home to check on an electric vehicle while it is being recharged" - Sure, me and how many other people will eventually be able to check on this. I am already giving the government and hackers enough of my private life.
- thcobbs, on 12/29/2008, -0/+2@dremspider
Well, PLC doesn't seem to be a problem for power companies who use it to read meters all the time.
And, I seriously doubt this is "broadband" which is what cascades out interference. Especially since its competing with homeplug. - unusualbob, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1@cheda
Um, what kind of crap wifi hotspot do you have? My wifi goes through 4 walls over a distance of 50ft to get to my room and its still at excellent strength level. Get a cantenna if its that bad. - cowsgonemadd3, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1So Americans can be more lazy and not have to "walk" to see how charged the car is.
- thcobbs, on 12/29/2008, -1/+2considering it will likely have AES or equivalent encryption... what's your problem? Or do you have a computer that can break AES already?
- Jektal, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1@chedabob: Not plugging it in? Seriously though, if you've got enough of a reason for it (laptop, mobile device, etc) it wouldn't be hard to run an Ethernet cable to the garage and have an Access Point there.
- bdejong11129, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1I have a friend who uses a powerline network adapter in his house instead of running a hard line. Wireless G was just not enough for video streaming and he didnt want to go through the trouble of snaking lines through existing walls. The power line adapter gives him close to three times the throughput of the wireless for his use so it was a good fit for what he required.
If it was jsut for simple data and internet surfing then there is no need.
For me, I use a Wireless N bridge using DDWRT in my house and it works great, but try to explain that to the normal consumer. For my friend all he had to do was plug them in the socket and away he went. No setup, no hassle. - ZeNiTH456, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1If they could make this work over long distances, ie allow power company to server as an ISP, this kind of technology could have potential for getting broadband to remote places. Otherwise this tech is old and worthless. WiMax will be great, but it will be a while before wide range WiMax is available.
- MWeather, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1I assumed you already had a wireless access point.
If you did, then buying a new device would be kind of pointless when it should work fine.
Just connect to the car wirelesly and check the stats. Set a password if you like. Beside , if you're not on the same breaker as your garage, powerline won't work. I kind of doubt a separate building is on the same breaker. - bdejong11129, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1Distance and walls are no issue, not only do I see my neighbors access points in my house, but I have also used it to remotely control my observatory equipment in the field behind my house. Wireless goes a lot farther than most people realize. So spreading out to a detached garage is not an issue. You may not get full speed, but it will be enough for most work.
- eddytsp, on 12/29/2008, -0/+1This is a US-specific comment, but others may benefit from the principle.
There is a competing technology called HomePlug. HomePlug in cooperation with the ARRL and ham radio operators has conducted studies for interference potential (web search for arrl homeplug joint test report). Frequencies which cause interference to amateur radio are notched out of the devices but the overall noise floor is still raised and interference will still happen to radio servies which occupy the spectrum the networking devices use.
The 2 or 3 wire Romex in your wall is not is not electrically balanced at RF, meaning it cannot pass wideband radio frequency without radiating. This is why we use cat5 and cat6 compliant cable for data networks, which ensures balance and constant impedance for proper electrical transmission of your data.
In the US, federally licensed radio services are by law protected from interference from unlicensed devices. The law states that FCC certified part 15 devices (all consumer electronics, computers, etc. for sale in the US) are not protected by outside interference and must not cause interference to licensed services, and the operators of the unlicenced devices are responsible for compliance.
Dealing with interference is painful for all involved parties, however the US regulations concerning interference mitigation are seemingly fair and should not change, and should stand to encourage good engineering.
It's unfortunate that people purchase consumer-grade devices in good faith, trusting the manufacturer has created a product of good engineering that will operate as intended. Good engineering before a device gets into the hands of the public will prevent some of the interference potential, but proper installation is also a must.
I've had to deal with poorly designed devices in my home, adding shielding or filtering to my DVD player and wireless router. I've pulled apart cheap power supplies to find that the filtering components were not installed on the board, an illegal deviation from their FCC certification. I've had to get my neighbors' cooperation to mitigate interference to my ham radio station from their Verizon FIOS equipment which involved Verizon coming out. There are still unidentified devices in their home which are causing interference to my station right now. While I am federally protected, it causes grief between us to have to resort to correcting problems the manufacturers or installers have caused.
Using the mains electrical wiring in your structure is a misapplication of technology, and the potential for interference and inconvenience for the consumer to ensure proper operation is not a substitute for traditional methods of data networking, that is, a properly designed and installed Ethernet network. - musntSurfatWork, on 12/29/2008, -1/+1Your doooor, is ajarrr!
- zengfoli, on 12/31/2008, -0/+0great job!!
- lonehunter01, on 12/29/2008, -1/+1How is this feature useful?
- chedabob, on 12/29/2008, -1/+1@HappyScrappy
Except you have to tell it which access point to connect to, what the password is, what encryption it uses, etc. I plug a PLC device in, and it's connected instantly.
@Unusualbob
Some Netgear one. The signal can barely penetrate through the hollow floor, never mind an outer wall or the inch thick concrete walls of my garage. It's the same with the 3 or 4 different routers I have had, so it's not just a Netgear problem.
@Jektal, @Mweather
Why bother when I already have power running to my garage? - Threlly1, on 12/29/2008, -3/+3Great, another method for spewing RF interference across your neighborhood.
Noted by the authorities for interfering with short-wave broadcast, airband and emergency services.
Well done. - LondonBridge, on 12/29/2008, -5/+5Look forward to reading more about the Panasonic powerline network prototypes...
- inactive, on 12/29/2008, -4/+1Oh, boo hoo! The government could hypothetically status our vehicule battery charge. Everybody stop the internets now!
- penn265, on 12/29/2008, -6/+0What crap technology that just won't go away.
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